Will front-end misalignment effect throttle response?

[smokey73]

I just finished lower control-arm bushings and lower ball joints on my '03. The LCA bushings were blown out and I replaced them with poly bushings and i did the LBJ's while i was in there. I tried to get the alignment as close as I could by eyeballing it till i get to to a shop, but the steering wheel is still about a 1/2 turn off. I took it out for a run after I was finished. Running up and down the dirt roads around my house, I didn't notice anything wrong, but after I got it on the highway I couldn't get it over 45mph. It would never rev while it was in gear, like something was holding it back. I can shift to neutral and it would rev just fine. From a standstill, it would take off and go.

Will the steering alignment cause the VSC to kick in? I never saw any lights, i wasn't sure if it would kick in passively and not turn on any lights

 

[skott]

You need to perform a zero point calibration.
Same thing happened to me---replaced control arms and got the alignment "close enough" until I could get to a shop. During the test drive, after driving for about 1/2 mile, my VSC and traction lights came on and it was in limp mode....performance was just like you described. The zero point calibration fixed it.
I'm surprised you don't have any lights on the dash, though. That's strange.

 

[smokey73]

After posting this question, I had to drive it into town to get something from the store. I remembered that I had done the VSC disable mod. I turned off the VSC while I was going down the road with the throttle buried and it took off like a rocket. My guess is that the VSC thought the car was turning and limited throttle control.

I took it to a local shop to get the alignment done. I got a call later on and they told me I needed new ITRE's before they could align it. He said they might as well do the outters while they had everything out at a cost of about $900 for OEM parts.

My rack has been leaking and I planned on replacing it later on, I think I'll hold off on the alignment and just do it all at once myself.